Top 5 Recession-Proof Industries

1. Health Care

Swine flu anyone? Germs don’t care about the economy. You don’t stop getting sick just because you’re out of a job – in fact, the stress may make you feel even worse. So it’s no wonder fields like pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies are particularly resilient.

We’re an older population with more health problems (see: obesity) than we were during the last recession. According to the December employment report by the BLS, health care jobs continued to rise, adding 22,000 jobs last month alone. Specific jobs such as physicians (9,000 new jobs) and home health care services also (8,000) did very well. According to the BLS, the health care industry has added 631,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession. Employment has increased in ambulatory care, nursing, and residential care facilities, according to the BLS.

Exception: Health-care providers who offer proper health care to individuals were hard hit this recession, not to mention the fact that an estimated 50 million Americans are without health insurance. Hospitals and other medical institutions get left with the debt if health bills go unpaid.